Dead Presidents II

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The song's production is notable for Ski's technique of filtering out high frequency content from the melody sample using a lowpass filter to achieve a more prominent bass line without replaying one in. Ski's *Beats, Rhymes & Samples* mixtape contains the Q-Tip remix in the context of a "Dead Presidents" sample because the original from "The World is Yours" had altered lyrics in connection to the sampled vocals. At the end of the sample from the chorus, you can hear the "Whose" from "Whose world is this?" from the beginning of the chorus of "The World is Yours". The music video features cameos by The Notorious B.I.G., AZ, Lil' Cease, Damon Dash, Kareem "Biggs" Burke, Smoothe da Hustler, and Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith.

In Their Own Story

Nas was originally invited to re-rap the chorus for Jay-Z and appear in the track's music video, but he declined. Some view these two actions as the catalyst of the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud. When the two directly feuded, both rappers discussed the merit of the sampling in individual diss records. In Nas' track "Stillmatic Freestyle," he says: "You show off, I count dough off when you sample my voice." Jay-Z responds in his song "Takeover" with the lines: "So yeah, I sampled your voice; you was usin' it wrong: you made it a hot line, I made it a hot song. And you ain't get a coin nigga you was gettin' fucked then; I know who I paid God, Serchlite Publishing." The line was later used in Cassidy's 2005 hit "I'm a Hustla": "Yeah I used dude's voice props to the boy Shawn, He made it a hot line, I made it a hot song." In 2005 at Jay-Z's I Declare War concert, he performed "Dead Presidents II" with Nas, officially ending their feud.

Reader's Guide

Jay-Z recorded a track called "Dead Presidents 3" around the time of *The Black Album* but it was never completed. The unfinished song was leaked onto the internet in the fall of 2007, around the release of *American Gangster*. In it, Jay-Z referenced some of his lyrics from the original "Dead Presidents" and used the sample, but the sample was played in reverse and had a darker, more atmospheric and sinister feel. In July 2013 during a rare Twitter Q&A, a fan asked Jay-Z if "Dead Presidents 3" would be released, which led to Jay-Z giving Young Guru and Just Blaze permission to release the track on Young Guru's SoundCloud account. Many artists have released remixed versions of "Dead Presidents" with original lyrics performed over the original sample and chorus, including Charles Hamilton, Lil B, Lil Wayne, Drake, Slug of Atmosphere, Chamillionaire, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Akala, Lupe Fiasco, Kano, Logic, Slaughterhouse, AZ, Curren$y, and DJ Premier, who recorded a version with reworked instrumentals from Jay-Z's original lyrics and vocals from Nas' *The World is Yours (Remix)*.

Did You Know?

• "Dead Presidents II" was voted number 2 in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Jay-Z Songs.
• The title is slang for money because portraits of dead American presidents appear on most Federal Reserve Notes.
• The chorus samples Nas rapping "I'm out for dead presidents to represent me" from his 1994 song "The World Is Yours (Tip Mix)".
• Nas was originally invited to re-rap the chorus and appear in the music video, but he declined, which some view as the catalyst of the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud.
• In 2005 at Jay-Z's I Declare War concert, he performed "Dead Presidents II" with Nas, officially ending their feud.